Bucks @ Lakers
yeah, they look good and i almost wanted to create a thread about kobe digging in on brnadon jennings for 94 feet but i figured people would just write it off as me being a nut hugger.
The lakers had a terrible lapse when they went deep on their bench with morris, duhon, clark, sacre and jamison all out there together. Bucks outscored them by like 10 in a hurry with that lineup out there and then kobe came back in and things settled down. Very good ball movement tonight. OPen looks for the shooters consistenly and nobody is forcing anything except maybe metta who was trying to get his rex champman on.
I agree! Kobe has picked up his focus and intensity on both ends. He's keying in on defense, and he doing a very good jobs of setting other players up on offense while taking good high percentage shots when he has them. This is what I've been preaching all season. If Kobe went hard on other parts of the game than just shooting, his teammates will fight with him. I cant lie, I'm not a Lakers fan, but so far, Im excited and impressed by Kobe's approach.
also i really worried about nash's ability to get by guys in the preseason and prior to his injury. BUt since he came back from the injury he has shown that craftiness that he doesnt allow quicker gaurds to force him into mistakes too often. I miss jordan hill though, dont even notice pau being absent.
''I don't think I've ever seen anybody put that much pressure on a point guard full court for a whole game. It was probably the best defense somebody's ever played on me since I've been in the league - just constantly putting pressure on me, touching me, hitting me at all times in the game. He wouldn't let me just catch the ball easy, and I wasn't able to get the ball a lot, so it was pretty difficult.''
- Jennings on Kobe's defense
The Heat are coming to town on Thu. Who's Kobe going to defend like that on the Heat? LeBron lol? IF so, that'll be fun to watch.
The thing with the lakers defense is they have to hide Nash asking as possible. He guarded mbah a moute and then dunleavy all last night while Kobe took Jennings, Clark took monta Ellis and metta took who was at pf like illysaova. That works with the bucks due to matchups but it will probably be more traditional matchups vs the heat. One good thing about starting Earl Clark is that he can Gaurd multiple positions and he can gaurd guys like bosh and battier on the perimeter without getting lost.
Every game is playoffs for the lakers because they can afford too many more losses.
Kobe usually takes Wade, and it really isn't that difficult for him. IMO, he has probably become bored of guarding Wade and genuinely wreaking havoc on his game. I expect he is looking forward to a chance to take LBJ on. I'm sincerely doubting he gets the assignment all game long as I'd expect MDA will look to rotate the job out between MWP, Earl CLark( who has been the unsung hero for LALA lately), and Kobe.
I'm really liking what I'm seeing from the Lakers beginning with Kobe Bryant. He wasn't lying about taking on the top offensive players. He's taken Brandon Jennings completely out of the game so far. He's damn near harassing Jennings full court and won't even let him touch the ball. Kobe's intensity is rubbing off on his teammates at that end. He's fighting over screens and is just completely locked in.
Offensively, Kobe is letting the game come to him and getting everyone else involved.
Lakers looking pretty good. Let's see if they can keep it up.